Chicken Caesar Pasta: Guest Post by Generation Y Foodie

I took a little hiatus while we were on vacation. I thought since we had not been away for 8 years, and it was quite likely our last trip together with just the four of us, that focusing on us having fun was the right thing to do. I am so glad I did. I think I only went online for about 2 minutes per day the entire time we were away. Some days I did not go online at all. It was a nice break.

I shall share my trip with you tomorrow I promise. Today there is a special treat for you, a treat you will all love and adore. The remarkably talented Dara of Generation Y Foodie is guest posting today. Dara was inspired to start her blog after reading an article about how young adults could not cook and were considered the “takeout generation”. She wanted to show how easy and cheap it is to do healthy at home. She is an amazing young lady, not only does she blog but she is a lawyer during the day. So she’s got that whole superhero vibe going if you ask me. Lawyer by day, foodie by night, I think that deserves a cape for sure. Dara is also sweet, supportive, and kind. I am very lucky to know her and am so pleased to share her with you today.

Hello! I am so excited to be coming to you live from the Asylum today! I love Kim and am honored to be guest posting on her super fabulous blog. I discovered Kim not long after I began blogging myself and look forward to her wacky hijinks and yummy recipes. I started blogging because I am a psycho who hates having free time. I stuck with blogging because I met amazing, talented and supportive people, like Kim, who became my Internet food family.

I was quite stressed to come up with the perfect recipe for this post. I wanted to find something that was Lunatic-worthy while still sticking to my cooking philosophy of healthy, simple recipes. After much deliberation, I came up with this idea. I absolutely love Caesar salad and am always trying to shoehorn random ingredients into Caesar inspired dishes. So I decided to give pasta a whirl. I’ve seen some cold pasta salads that use lettuce, but I wanted a warm and comfy dinner that would take less than 20 minutes to cook. Instead of lettuce, I used my favorite veggie – kale.

Let me get on my soapbox for a minute. If you don’t generally eat kale or are wary of it, I urge you to give it a try. This versatile veggie stands up well both raw and cooked and lowers the risk of FIVE different types of cancer. It’s also packed with vitamin K, omega-3’s, antioxidants and flavonoids. I have no clue what flavonoids are, but they are good for you!

Ok, off the soapbox. I used kale because it cooks really well and will hold its texture and flavor far better than spinach or chard. Either of those would work in this recipe if you prefer, but Tuscan (aka Dinosaur) kale is a great addition. So, to recap, we’ve got chicken breast, whole wheat pasta and kale, a trifecta of healthy and filling awesomeness. How to improve this combination? Yummy Caesar salad dressing!

Now. I had originally contemplated making my own “dressing” for this dish but then I decided not to make life harder for myself, especially since it was a weeknight and my puppy really wanted to go for a walk. So instead, I used 365 Organic Light Caesar Dressing. I pick it up at Whole Foods and it’s seriously my favorite salad dressing right now. It is really flavorful and has only 70 calories per serving! Which makes me very happy. Anyway, any low calorie or light Caesar will work with this recipe. Just make sure it’s olive oil based, not creamy, which would not taste good warm. A little bit of dressing and some lemon juice and you are in business.

That looks so tasty and I am now craving this dish for lunch. Dara has a way of making even the likes of me crave healthy food, and you all know that is not easy to do. I’d gobble this up and make yummy noises to boot if I had this in front of me right now. Might I just add how great the photos are. I can just picture myself sitting out on the back patio having this served by some pool boy or something. Okay wait, that is not appropriate at all. He’d be eating it with me, not serving me. Yup, much better. Totally appropriate now.

I would love to have everyone stop by Dara’s blog, Generation Y Foodie to say hello. Make sure you follow her blog. She’s also on twitter, and facebook. Did I mention she also has cookbooks? I know right. You’re going to want to order those, and you can find them on Amazon. You can order them directly through Amazon or you can actually link through my store to order them since I am an Amazon Associate. Here is the direct Amazon links: “Gen Y Foodie Holidays: New and Traditional Holidays to make your Holidays Healthy and Memorable” and “Gen Y Foodie Parties: Healthy and Simple Ways to Wow a Crowd“. To order through me you would go to the shop tab up at the top of the blog or look to the right for the Amazon widget. I sure hope you enjoyed seeing Dara here at the asylum, I know I feel honoured and touched she did this for me. Thanks so much Dara, for the recipe and just being you. I see great success in your future. You deserve every bit of it. xx

Okay folks make sure you stop by tomorrow when I begin a series of Disney posts for you. We had a blast and I really look forward to sharing the experience with you. I just need written consent to post all the horrifying, embarrassing photos on the blog. Would not want to be sued by people, especially mini-me. It’s okay though, I know a good lawyer right Dara!!!

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Comments

Welcome back Kim! I did miss you I’m sure your trip was a blast and I can’t wait to hear all about it. Now, on to Dara’s this pasta…YUM! What a great combo of flavors here. I love all things Caesar so I know I’d love it. The addition of the kale and using a lowfat dressing make it something I would love to try.

This is a great guest post from Dara! I love the idea of a caesar salad pasta! Kale is definitely up there in favorite leafy greens and this is a great use of it, plus I can’t get enough pasta in my life so any pasta dish will get me hooked! YUM!

Aw you are so sweet, I was not abducted or anything. I had trouble getting internet the first couple of nights so at that point it was like okay let’s just vacation and forget about blogging. It was nice to have a break and just enjoy my time away.

Welcome back, Kim. We missed you, what with the asylum all boarded up like that for so many days. Great guest post and recipe and a nice way to ease back in. Looking forward to the Disney recap. Now get to work catching up on all the posts you missed. Brew a big pot of coffee and stay up all night

That is so great that you took time to just be with your family! We didn’t go on many vacations growing up, but my senior year of high school my mom, dad, sister and I went to Rome for a week together and it was incredible. Indeed, it was the last time the four of us really went on vacation together.

Great guest post! I love this creative take on Caesar salad! And you don’t need to convince me about kale – I loooooove it!!!

I knew we had to do this. B-Dude will be moving out soon so it was a good idea to go and also to unplug and just live in the moment. So glad we did it. I would love to go to Rome, how lovely to have that memory.

Hi Kim, it was so nice to meet you at Disney and I know you had a fab time staying the extra time with your family. I am just today getting back into the swing of things, I had my 3 year old granddaughter during the week. Congrats on the Top 9, this dish looks wonderful and I love Dara’s blog. Great guest post. Hope you have a relaxing weekend.

Aw thanks so much Suzi. It was such a pleasure getting to know you better and hanging out. I sure hope we get to do it again next year. I am actually crossing fingers money is on the upswing as there is another conference in Florida I’d love to attend solo this time. We’ll see how things go. I am so glad we spent the extra time. We had more fun at Animal Kingdom than another other park. It was a total riot. Looking forward to oranges next year. I still have 2 in my fridge. Lol!

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[…] and I have worked together before. She guest posted for me last March and made a wonderful Chicken Caesar Pasta. Recently I guest posted for her and made Black Forest Bites. I adore Dara so any chance to work […]

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